


A Burning Ring of Fire

by INMH



Category: Longmire (TV)
Genre: Fire, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Injury, Natural Disasters, Strong Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-24
Updated: 2013-06-24
Packaged: 2019-08-10 01:01:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16460459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/INMH/pseuds/INMH
Summary: The fact that he had done it and survived apparently meant nothing to Vic.





	A Burning Ring of Fire

“You are fifty-fucking-shades of crazy.”  
  
Walt would respond, but the oxygen mask currently strapped onto his face was inhibiting his ability to speak- that, and the fact that his lungs were currently preoccupied with spewing out the smoke and other unpleasant substances that he had inhaled.  
  
Vic’s voice shouldn’t have been as audible as it was, what with the wailing ambulance siren, the scratchy dispatch over the radio up front, and the discussion going on between the paramedic in the back and the driver. It shouldn’t have been, but it was, because if there was anything that Vic Moretti excelled at, it was making herself heard- especially when she was pissed off.  
  
“Are you suicidal? Do you have a death-wish? Are you _not_ content with one brush with death per week, and feel the need to fill some sort of crazy-ass quota?”  
  
 _Vic_ , Walt thought as he caught sight of the look on the paramedic’s face. He didn’t seem to enjoy the fact that Vic’s voice was rising over his own as he tried to speak to his coworker. _Vic, lecture me at the hospital later and let the man hear himself think now._  
  
It was obvious that the paramedics had had a long night/day. The summer had brought incredibly dry weather, and the wildfire that had sprung up had taken advantage of the conditions. It had been eating along the woods and plains towards Absaroka County since the previous morning, residents evacuating their families and in some cases livestock frantically before it could trap them in their homes.  
  
The story made short was that they had been responsible for helping to evacuate a farm that was directly in the path of the expanding blaze and due to be hit soon. By the time the horses ready to be loaded into the trailers the house and barn were already on fire, which spooked the poor animals enough to make it extremely difficult to get them to safety.  
  
Walt had been injured when a horse had bolted back into the barn: A few beams had burned, broken, and fallen, and he had been hit. The horse, as it so happened, hadn’t even been touched, and bolted back outside to rejoin its owners, unintentionally alerting them that something had happened to the sheriff.  
  
It had been a long day. Walt didn’t blame Vic for being upset, not when she reeked of soot and ash after pulling him from the barn. But losing her cool in a small, enclosed area with three other people who had also had a very long day was probably not the best idea in the world.  
  
Walt made a few aborted attempts at speech before finally managing to get a word out. “Vic,” He rasped.  
  
“What?”  
  
“Did everyone else get out okay?”  
  
As he had hoped, that was enough to soften Vic a little. At the end of the day, she knew who he was and what he was willing to do to help someone out; she just damn well hated the way he went about doing it at times, mainly those times when it was his physical safety at stake.  
  
“Yeah, everyone got out fine.” Her voice was back to room-level, and out of the corner of his eye Walt saw the paramedic relax a bit. “They were loading up the last of the animals when we got into the ambulance. They should be gone by now.”  
  
“Good,” Walt coughed.  
  
He would later blame his next misstep on lack of oxygen.  
  
“What about the horse?”  
  
The fire came back, blazing hard and strong in Vic’s eyes, and he was more nervous about that blaze than he was about the one outside.  
  
“The _horse_ is just fine, Walt, I assure you. You would be too if you didn’t feel the need to be the damn hero every time shit went down! Jesus _Christ_ , how are you not dead yet? It wouldn’t surprise me if Henry had a coffin picked out for you!”  
  
The paramedic groaned, and Walt made a note to apologize to him when Vic next paused for breath.  
  
-End


End file.
